Act Swiftly to be sealed in the Book of Life
SHE IS an unlikely source of pre-Rosh Hashanah inspiration but if you asked me which celebrity gives us an apt message ahead of the holidays, I would choose Taylor Swift.
The singer-songwriter has just fought a court case against a former DJ who groped her bare bottom during a June 2013 meet-and-greet.
The US District Court in Denver rejected a defence by radio star David Mueller and awarded Ms Swift every penny of damages she asked for — all 77 of them. She asked for only $1, the equivalent of 77p.
The celebrity world is rife with selfinterest but her decision to fight the case was for the sake of others. It is true she faced a damages suit from Mueller, claiming she caused him to lose his job after the incident — but she did not need to fight back with her bold case.
Swift said she did it to “serve as an example to other women who may resist publicly reliving similar outrageous and humiliating acts”.
She had no need for publicity arising from the case and the tiny damages she requested made abundantly clear she was not motivated by financial interests.
Swift, pure and simply, used her financial resources and confidence to fight against the type of person who would normally get away with things and send a strong message to women who could end up blaming themselves or feeling they need to keep quiet.
“I’m not going to allow you or your client to make me feel in any way that this is my fault,” the star said. She went to great lengths for the sake of justice.
As people take stock of themselves ahead of Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, the question many ask is how they should live their lives and how they can make use of the resources available to them.
This is why tzedakah is such a powerful theme for the holidays — because when we give charity, we are not just writing a cheque but we are consciously saying we want our resources to be used for the sake of good. We are committing ourselves to the kind of values we hold dear.
These are not messages you expect to find reinforced by the superstars of the pop world. It would have been so easy for Swift to have walked away and passed over an opportunity to go after her 77p-worth of justice but instead she embraced the hassle, using it as an opportunity to fight for the sake of others.
“Who is wise?” Ben-Zoma, the sage of the Mishnah, used to ask. “One who learns from every person.”
So to all who plan to spend the forthcoming holidays reflecting on the past and wondering how they can put their life experiences and abilities to best use in the year to come; to all those considering the good examples set by others whose actions offer food for thought, I say — think of Taylor Swift.
Who is wise? One who learns from every person’